this is bashar al-assad very much in control. he has a lot of supporters there in the damascus opera house there in the capitol from which he was speaking, a lot of applause there and was speaking live on state television. his detractors will say what what they will, but many people have predicted bashar al-assad's demise over the past 18 or 20 months, they say his days are over. this is a president very much in control of his capitol and much of his country, bill. bill: does that speech change anything on ground, leland. >> reporter: not rile the violence continues. the one thing that bashar al-assad did talk about is a need for his army to continue to night and that is exactly what they are doing. if anything the rebels' momentum as of late has slowed or perhaps stopped. the one thing we saw president bashar al-assad do is give up a lot of indefensible areas, areas he didn't care about, especially in the north. the rebels haven't been able to make inch roads either in damascus or other important towns there for bashar al-assad.